None of that is false, been saying this all season. His defense while playing man to man is superb, but he rarely decides to actually play defense, opting instead to just freelance and not respect the man he is covering.

Kobe has been bad on defense for more than this season, they aren't picking on him one game, that game is a microcosm of his defensive problems. Worst part is, he is a great defender when he wants to play man to man.

Kobe constantly leave's his assigned man open, he always freelances all over the court and tried to come up with a steal but all that does it leaves open his man. Why do you think there is a 80% chance of a player on a NBA team earns either their season high or Career high whenever they play the Lakers, specifically SG's.

Kobe constantly leave's his assigned man open, he always freelances all over the court and tried to come up with a steal but all that does it leaves open his man. Why do you think there is a 80% chance of a player on a NBA team earns either their season high or Career high whenever they play the Lakers, specifically SG's.

Fans seem to ignore the fact that Kobe has been gambling on defense his entire career. The difference the last three years is that his athleticism has declined so he can't recover like he did as a young player and into his prime.

Kobe isn't a bad defender by any stretch, he's one of the smartest and can lock people down when he wants, but something I've noticed is that if the guy he is guarding isn't a superstar or a player he has an issue with, he sags off them and really hurts the team defensively.

But still he's not the reason this squad is a bad defensive team, he's just one of the many issues that plagues them on that side of the floor. I stand by my original opinion that it's a lack of defensive schemes from the coaching staff that kills them.

Fans seem to ignore the fact that Kobe has been gambling on defense his entire career. The difference the last three years is that his athleticism has declined so he can't recover like he did as a young player and into his prime.

Kobe isn't a bad defender by any stretch, he's one of the smartest and can lock people down when he wants, but something I've noticed is that if the guy he is guarding isn't a superstar or a player he has an issue with, he sags off them and really hurts the team defensively.

But still he's not the reason this squad is a bad defensive team, he's just one of the many issues that plagues them on that side of the floor. I stand by my original opinion that it's a lack of defensive schemes from the coaching staff that kills them.

Kobe and Dwight are the two best and smartest defenders on the team, and both have to constantly roam to cover the asses of people like Nash who can't play defense. It's something he's been doing for years now, and it's better to give up that 3 than an open drive.

Yes Kobe's defense isn't always the greatest, but at this point he has to spend all his energy (at 34 years of age) on offense to keep this sad excuse of a team in playoff contention. Nobody else seems to be doing much to help him out.

once again neglecting to mention the entire teams pathetic defense to only throw shade at kobe.

yr 17 why do you expect kobe to be a lockdown defender when he still has to do everything on offense for LA to have a chance to win? For last 2 yrs his defense has been suspect & lazy so nothing new = look at the guards he is forced to guard on a nightly basis. when he decides to play defense he still can. but when he doesnt care about his assignment he might get lite up for a quarter but its rarely that a guy has a huge night on Kobe where he continues his 1qrt onslaught.